THE "GOOD TURN"
It was a draggled and exceedingly dubious-looking trio that made their
way up the main street of Nyack. They had no difficulty in finding the
office of "Old Man Stanton," which bore a conspicuous sign:
WILMOUTH STANTON
COUNSELLOR AT LAW
"He'd--he'd have to get out a warrant for us first, wouldn't he?"
Pee-wee asked, apprehensively.
"That'll be easy," said Roy. "If all goes well, I don't see why we
shouldn't be in Sing Sing by three o'clock."
"We're big fools to do this," said Pee-wee. "A scout is supposed to
be--cautious." But he followed the others up the stairs and stepped
bravely in when Tom opened the door.
They found themselves in the lion's den with the lion in close
proximity glaring upon them. He sat at a desk opening mail and looked
frowningly at them over his spectacles. He was thin and wiry, his gray
hair was rumpled in a way which suggested perpetual perplexity or
annoyance, and his general aspect could not be said to be either
conciliatory or inviting.
"Well, sir," he said, crisply.
"Are you Mr. Stanton?" Tom asked. "We are Scouts," he added, as the
gentleman nodded perfunctorily, "and we came from Bridgeboro. We're on
our way to camp. Last night we got caught in the rain and we ran----"
"Took refuge," whispered Pee-wee.
"For that old boat on the marsh. This morning we heard it was yours, so
we came to tell you that we camped in it last night. We made a fire in a
can, but I don't think we did any harm, except we chopped up a couple of
old stanchions. We thought they were no good, but, of course, we
shouldn't have taken them without leave."
Mr. Stanton stared at him with an ominous frown. "Built a fire in a
can?" said he. "Do you mean in the boat?"
"We used the exhaust for a draught," said Roy.
"Oh--and what brings you here?"
"To tell you," said Tom, doggedly. "A man came and told us you owned the
boat. He said you might have us arrested, so we came to let you know
about what we did."
"We didn't come because we wanted to be arrested," put in Pee-wee.
"I see," said Mr. Stanton, with the faintest suggestion of a smile.
"Isn't it something new," he added, "running into the jaws of death?
Boys generally run the other way and don't go hunting for trouble."
"Well, I'll tell you how it is," said Pee-wee, making the conversation
his own, somewhat to Roy's amusement. "Of course, a scout has got to be
cautious--but he's got to be fearless too. I was kind of scared when I
heard you were a lawyer----"
Mr. Stanton's grim visage relaxed into an unwilling, but unmistakable,
smile.
"And another thing I heard scared me, but----"
Tom, seeing where Pee-wee was drifting, tried to stop him, but Roy,
knowing that Pee-wee always managed to land on top, and seeing the smile
on Mr. Stanton's forbidding countenance, encouraged him to go on, and
presently the mascot of the Silver Foxes was holding the floor.
"A scout has to deduce--that's one of the things we learn, and if you
heard somebody called 'Old Man Something-or-other,' why, you'd deduce
something from it, wouldn't you? And you'd be kind of scared-like. But
even if you deduce that a man is going to be mad and gruff, kind of,
even still you got to remember that you're a scout and if you damaged
his property you got to go and tell him, anyway. You got to go and tell
him even if you go to jail. Don't you see? Maybe you don't know much
about the scouts----"
"No," said Mr. Stanton, "I'm afraid I don't. But I'm glad to know that I
am honored by a nickname--even so dubious a one. Do you think you were
correct in your deductions?" he added.
"Well, I don't know," began Pee-wee. "I can see--well, anyway there's
another good thing about a scout--he's got to admit it if he's wrong."
Mr. Stanton laughed outright. It was a rusty sort of laugh, for he did
not laugh often--but he laughed.
"The only things I know about Boy Scouts," said he, "I have learned in
the last twenty-four hours. You tell me that they can convert an
exhaust pipe into a stove flue, and I have learned they can bring a
bird down out of a tree without so much as a bullet or a stone (I have
to believe what my little daughter tells me), and that they take the
road where they think trouble awaits them on account of a
principle--that they walk up to the cannon's mouth, as it were--I am a
very busy man and no doubt a very hard and disagreeable one, but I can
afford to know a little more about these scouts, I believe."
"I'll tell you all about them," said Pee-wee, sociably. "Jiminys, I
never dreamed you were that girl's father."
Mr. Stanton swung around in his chair and looked at him sharply. "Who
are you boys?"
"We came from Bridgeboro in New Jersey," spoke up Roy, "and we're going
up the river roads as far as Catskill Landing. Then we're going to hit
inland for our summer camp."
Mr. Stanton was silent for a few moments, looking keenly at them while
they stood in some suspense.
"Well," he said, soberly, "I see but one way out of the difficulty. The
stanchions you destroyed were a part of the boat. The boat is of no use
to me without them. I suggest, therefore, that you take the boat along
with you. It belonged to my son and it has been where it now lies ever
since the storm in which his life was lost. I have not seen the inside
of it since--I do not want to see the inside of it," he added brusquely,
moving a paperweight about on his desk. "It is only three years old," he
went on after a moment's uncomfortable pause, "and like some people it
is not as bad as it looks."
The boys winced a little at this thrust. Mr. Stanton was silent for a
few moments and Pee-wee was tempted to ask him something about his son,
but did not quite dare to venture.
"I think the boat can very easily be removed to the river with a little
of the ingenuity which you scouts seem to have, and you may continue
your journey in her, if you care to. You may consider it a--a present
from my daughter, whom you made so happy yesterday."
For a moment the boys hardly realized the meaning of his words. Then Tom
spoke.
"We have a rule, Mr. Stanton, that a scout cannot accept anything for a
service. If he does, it spoils it all. It's great, your offering us the
boat and it seems silly not to take it, but----"
"Very well," said Mr. Stanton, proceeding to open his letters, "if you
prefer to go to jail for destroying my stanchions, very well. Remember
you are dealing with a lawyer." Roy fancied he was chuckling a little
inwardly.
"That's right," said Pee-wee in Tom's ear. "There's no use trying to get
the best of a lawyer--a scout ought to be--to be modest; we better take
it, Tom."
"There's a difference between payment for a service and a token of
gratitude," said Mr. Stanton, looking at Tom. "But we will waive all
that. I cannot allow the Boy Scouts to be laying down the law for me. By
your own confession you have destroyed my stanchions and as a citizen it
is my duty to take action. But if I were to give you a paper dated
yesterday, assigning the boat to you, then it would appear that you had
simply trespassed and burglariously entered your own property and
destroyed your own stanchions and I would not have a leg to stand upon.
My advice to you as a lawyer is to accept such a transfer of title and
avoid trouble."
He began ostentatiously to read one of his letters.
"He's right, Tom," whispered Pee-wee, "It's what you call a teckinality.
Gee, we better take the boat. There's no use trying to beat a lawyer.
He's got the right on his side."
"I don't know," said Tom, doubtfully. He, too, fancied that Mr. Stanton
was laughing inwardly, but he was not good at repartee and the lawyer
was too much for him. It was Roy who took the situation in hand.
"It seems ungrateful, Mr. Stanton, even to talk about whether we'll take
such a peach of a gift. Tom here is always thinking about the law--our
law--and Pee-wee--we call this kid Pee-wee--he's our specialist on doing
good turns. They're both cranks in different ways. I know there's a
difference, as you say, between just a present and a reward. And it
seems silly to say thank you for such a present, just as if it was a
penknife or something like that. But we do thank you and we'll take the
boat. I just happened to think of a good name for it while you were
talking. It was the good turn Pee-wee did yesterday--about the bird, I
mean--that made you offer it to us and your giving it to us is a good
turn besides, so I guess we'll call it the 'Good Turn.'"
"You might call it the 'Teckinality,'" suggested Mr. Stanton with a
glance at Pee-wee.
"All right," he added, "I'll send one of my men down later in the day
to see about getting her in the water. I've an idea a block and falls
will do the trick. But you'd better caulk her up with lampwick and give
her a coat of paint in the meantime."
He went to the door with them and as they turned at the foot of the
stairs and called back another "Thank you," Roy noticed something in his
face which had not been there before.
"I bet he's thinking of his son," said he.
"Wonder how he died," said Tom.